Comments on Cop in the Hood: The Curious Case of Barry McCaffrey

I can't recall where I read it, but a Military Cou...

2009-10-24T00:33:47.828-04:00

I can't recall where I read it, but a Military Counterinsurgency(COIN) expert had an insightful anecdote about who understood COIN doctrine.

Now this was a few years back so it likely is not as true today.

The expert would deliver lectures to groups of mid-level military officers in formal advanced training classes. Generally, the officers had a very difficult time understanding the concepts. They understood organization and "taking the hill", but the idea of long term operations was largely foreign to their experience and outlooks. Where's the objective? How do we take and hold it?

He'd give the same identical lecture to groups of mid level cops and they largely intuitively understood what he was talking about.

That anecdote can sum up the two prevailing perspectives on the "drug war".

1. Fight,interdict,inprison. Burn the field. Win the war. Declare victory every time a major arrest is made.

2. Human nature being what it is we're never going to "win the drug war". Better to accept it and deal with the reality because this war can't be "won".

McCaffrey is clearly looking for that pyrrhic series of never ending victories in the never ending war. It's likely he is just incapable of understanding that the costs of winning the "drug war" is worse than the negative effects of drugs.

Wow, statistics show that weed use among 15-17 year old teenagers is down for the second half of September 2009. It's a victory! We found a drug tunnel underneath the Mexican/USA border. It's a victory!

Sometimes there is no victory. There is no defeat. There is just the reality of life and a world filled with flawed humans.

That's interesting. Especially the part about the ...

2009-10-23T22:27:37.391-04:00

That's interesting. Especially the part about the "can do" attitude of the military. It's great if it's something that actually can be done. But if not...the word "quagmire" comes to mind.

Don't underestimate the ability of SOME military o...

2009-10-23T19:19:30.733-04:00

Don't underestimate the ability of SOME military officers to hold on to beliefs counter to reality. My experience was that the higher the rank the more likely that was to be true.

It's seems to go along with the "we can do it" mindset of military life. Of course that is not a problem limited to the military.

Personally, I thought the idea of a former military officer as "drug czar" was silliness. Calling it the "drug war" doesn't mean it should be viewed as a "war" and led by a highly decorated combat veteran.

I like the idea of a former Police chief holding the position as it is today. Perhaps a public health professional. Hell, Kurt Schmoke and George Schultz could split the job.

Just give me someone who is willing to tell the truth regarding the costs of the "drug war" and lead the way to treating drug abuse as a public health issue and not a law enforcement issue.

I'm not holding my breath.